Golf: Aditi Ashok becomes first Indian woman to finish joint-second in LPGA Tour

Aditi Ashok finished joint second at the JM Eagle LA Championship on Monday, and in turn, achieved her best-ever finish in the LPGA Tour. She also became the first Indian woman to finish as runners-up in the Tour.

Considering that this was Ashok's fourth event on the LPGA this season and that she missed the cut in each of the first three, her comeback of sorts has been nothing short of commendable. She finished behind Australia's Hannah Green and tied with China's Xiyu Lin.

At one point in the event, the Indian was primed to clinch the trophy. However, she was unable to maintain the tempo and slipped to tied 5th in the third round of the LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club. Nonetheless, this was also the first time that Aditi reached a playoff in her seven-year-long presence on the LPGA Tour.

“I think overall it’s a good week. I’ve never played in this position on the LPGA, to be near the lead on the first day and stay there the whole tournament. The competition is just so deep out here. Ten people have a good tournament but only one can win. I’m happy with the way I played," she said after her historic performance to lpga.com.

Aditi, who finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, started the week with a bogey-free five-under and when she added a one-under 70 on the second, she went into sole lead after 36 hole for the first time in her career.

It was also her first cut of 2023.

On the third day, she did not score as well but bounced back on Sunday with four-under 67 with five birdies and a lone bogey on 17, to move to nine-under overall. That put her into a play-off with Green (69) and Lin (67).

Ashok had a 15-foot putt that lipped out on the 18th in the playoff, ending her bid. Lin made a 12-foot putt, and Green made a 4-footer to stay in the game.

On the second extra hole at No. 18, Lin hit into a bunker and blasted out to some 18 feet and missed the par putt. That left Green to tap in from 2 feet for her first LPGA win since September 2019.

"I think I played good today, kind of like the first day, no mistakes," Ashok said. "Just the bogey on 17. Feels like that's the shot I left out there."

Aditi, who won on the Ladies European Tour in her rookie year at the Hero Women's Indian Open, added two more wins later. This year she had a win at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open in February for first LET win in five years and now leads the Race to Costa Del Sol. She was also second once and third once on the LET.

Ashok credited her recent success to her off season grind.

"I was just working on swing speed in the off-season, gained a lot of yardage, so that's definitely helped. The driving distance helped a lot and just working on being more consistent through the game.

"I changed my irons back to what I was using a couple years ago and I'm more comfortable with that, so that's helped this week."

Next up on the tour for Aditi would be the Cognizant Founder Cup, scheduled to be from May 11 to 14 at the Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, New Jersey.

(With PTI inputs)